Just David — Eleanor H. Porter / Eleanor Hodgman Porter

If you have a soft spot for Eleanor H. Porter's beloved novel Pollyanna, you should definitely add Just David to your reading list. Written just a few years after Porter penned her best-known work, this emotionally resonant and uplifting tale mines many of the same themes, albeit from a starkly different vantage-point. David is a young boy who has lived an extremely sheltered life in the mountains, with just his father and his beloved violin to keep him company. When his father is beset by a grave illness, David is thrust out of his idyllic existence and is forced to grapple with the reality of the outside world. Will this innocent be able to make it through this trying time with his virtue -- and his life -- intact?